Rohingya death toll likely above 10,000, MSF says amid exodus

The number of Rohingya Muslims killed during and after the Myanmar military's "clearance operations" is likely above 10,000, according to medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres.

The number of Rohingya Muslims killed during and after the Myanmar military's "clearance operations" is likely above 10,000, according to medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

Key points:

Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled from violence in northern Myanmar

The charity says even by conservative estimates, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the violence

Myanmar authorities said in September fewer than 400 people had been killed

The estimate is based on surveys of surviving refugees in Bangladesh and is the first attempt to quantify the number of fatalities since early September, when Myanmar authorities said 394 Rohingya had died, claiming the casualties were mostly militants.

Since then, Myanmar has blocked almost all international access to northern Rakhine state, making any reliable estimate impossible.

MSF says it conducted six surveys of refugees escaping the violence, who overall reported eight deaths for every 10,000 fleeing.

"Extrapolating the data, essentially we can say that you know, our most conservative estimate is that between 9,000 and 13,700 people died," MSF Australia Executive Director Paul McPhun told the ABC.

He said about 71 per cent died violent deaths, "so they were shot, they were burnt to death and clearly you know this was the result of the military campaign during that period".

The rest died of starvation or other causes fleeing the violence, MSF said.

The organisation also said at least 1,000 children under the age of five were among the casualties.

Particularly sensitive had been the suggestion from some Myanmar military sources — denied by Myanmar's democratic leadership — that returning Rohingya could be placed in camps, instead of returned to their villages.

A number of aid agencies have even vowed to withhold humanitarian assistance if that happens.

MSF's Paul McPhun described the idea of camps as "unacceptable" and said prior experience showed this would only exacerbate the tension between ethnic Burmese and the still-stateless Rohingya.

"The idea of repatriating thousands of Rohingya back into Rakhine state, but instead of providing them safety and security, they're going to be interred in displaced camps… that's completely unacceptable," he said.

"Unless this fundamental, underlying issue of violence against this particular ethnic group is addressed, then the political conditions for people to return absolutely don't exist," he said.

World partners:

This service includes material from AAP, Agence France-Presse, APTN, BBC, CNN, Getty, Pacnews, Reuters and other agencies which is copyright and cannot be reproduced, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written consent.